The present invention relates to the handling of tools and particularly surgical instruments, which must be sterilized, counted and carried securely without contact with each other, into an operating room. More specifically, the invention relates to a carrying device for surgical instruments, which retains the instruments in selected positions and memorizes and indicates the total number of surgical instruments carried into an operating room, even though some or all of such instruments are removed from the device during a surgical procedure.
Instruments selected for use in a surgical procedure are usually placed in a sterilization tray in which they are immovably positioned in a manner such that the cutting edges do not come into contact with each other. The tray and instruments are next sterilized together and then presented to operating room personnel for their intended use. It is extremely important that an accurate count be made of the number of instruments so sterilized and presented, and that a count of the number of dirty instruments removed after the surgical procedure is completed be equal to the first count. Otherwise, there is a great risk that one or more instruments unknowingly may have been left inside of a patient after the surgical procedure has been completed, and the surgical incision closed. Although a member of the operating room personnel is usually designated to keep track of the counts, the mental alertness and memory of such person must be relied upon not to make a mistake in counts.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for maintaining surgical instruments in an organized arrangement during and after sterilization, while memorizing the count of the number of instruments so maintained.
It is another object of the invention to provide a device for indicating at any time the number of surgical instruments carried by the device into a surgical operating room.